Libyan Rebels Retake Gadhafi’s Hometown Airport
Libyan National Transitional Council fighters on Thursday took complete control of the airport in ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi's hometown for the second time in as many weeks, witnesses said, despite continuous sniper and rocket fire from Gadhafi loyalists. (more)
Libyan National Transitional Council fighters on Thursday took complete control of the airport in ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s hometown for the second time in as many weeks, witnesses said, despite continuous sniper and rocket fire from Gadhafi loyalists.
The airport in Sirte is an important win for rebel fighters because it makes the shipment of aid to the battle-torn area more possible. United Nations aid workers had been prevented from helping civilians in the area because of constant fighting and because the coastal city has been under NATO aerial attack. Now sources say that U.N. aid workers have at least been able to truck in water to thousands of civilians attempting to leave the city for safety. –BF
WAIT BEFORE YOU GO...Reuters:
Each side has accused the other of endangering civilians.
“They’re shelling constantly. There’s indiscriminate fire within individual neighborhoods and from one area to another,” Hassan, a resident who escaped the city, told Reuters.
Civilians have been fleeing Sirte, a coastal city of 100,000 that is also under NATO aerial attack, and Libyan authorities have asked the United Nations for fuel for ambulances to evacuate wounded, a U.N. source in Libya said.
The United Nations is sending trucks of clean drinking water for civilians crammed into vehicles leaving Sirte for Benghazi in the west or Misrata in the east, the source said.
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